A Helping Hand
by Orwell is watching-xoxo
Summary: Mother Knows Best 'verse: Skylar had given up on everyone else in the world. No one could keep her and her daughter safe, not like she wanted them to. But when she has to chose between Zoe staying with her during the apocalypse, or sending her to her father, Skylar decides rather quickly. Extending ending to 2x12.


**I'm back with more Skylar centric fics! This will start a crossover, seeing how her baby daddy is a character from another show. It'll only be in one fandom or the other, judging by whoever the main focus is on. Brownie points go to whoever can guess where Skylar's man came from. (And yes, that excludes you, IA, 'cause that would be cheating.)**

**I own nothing. This takes place just before "Need to Know" ends. **

_**A Helping Hand**_

Skylar felt responsible for causing the impending doom that was the end of the world as she knew it. Even though Parish had drugged her, she still felt that guilt settling in the pit of her gut. It must have been the mother in her; there were still so many things that she wanted Z to experience. Zoe never had the chance to meet the man that fathered her—Simon Brenner—and that was a big thing for Skylar. She was sure that he was out there somewhere, hopefully having just a miserable time as she was. When he left her nearly seven years ago, she swore to herself that she would find him again. Even if it was just to beat the crap out of him for leaving, she still wanted that satisfaction of knowing he was still out there.

And now that she was helping prevent an apocalypse, the tattooed Alpha knew that her daughter had no place with her. At least, if she went to stay with Simon for a little while, she would be protected. That was his daughter and if he was half the man that she remembered him to be, she would be out of harm's reach.

Before being drugged, the mother had planned to search for her ex-fiancé. Maybe even manage to meet up with him at some point. But she had been rudely interrupted by a crazy Alpha that had been alive for around 150 years. So now what was she supposed to do? Act like nothing had happened and call him anyways?

Skylar was thrown out of her reverie when Bill tried to get her attention. She hadn't let her daughter break out of her embrace yet and she was beginning to think that she never _would_ let her.

"Skylar? We're going to need your help with this. You're the only one who knows the tech as well as he does. We'll get your daughter out of town. Wherever she needs to go where you think she'll be safe at," Bill told her in his most patient voice.

The mother chewed at her lip as she loosened her grip on her six-year-old. "I want her taken to Chicago," she slowly began, testing it out on her tongue, "Zoe's father lives there. And… there's no one I'd rather trust at this point."

The older Alpha just nodded, a tiny smile playing at his lips. "Okay. That's no problem. Get some things together and we'll head back to the others. I'll make sure that Zoe gets to Chicago in no time at all."

Skylar looked down at her daughter, who was snuggling into her long hair. "Thanks. Just… give me a minute, will ya?"

Bill looked over at Gary, who was still gawking at the drawings of Skylar's various machines that she had to build for Parish. The autistic Alpha mumbled something to himself, only getting louder as he left the room. Just as Bill was about to leave the room as well, Skylar asked him, "can I use your phone?" She saw his look and smiled a little, "I need to tell Z's dad what's going on, and I don't have a phone for security reasons…"

He handed his phone over to her and slipped out of the room to give the mother and daughter their privacy.

With a shaky hand, the brunette dialed the number of the hospital that he worked in. If anything, they'd be able to tell her where he was.

o—o—o

Simon Brenner never went a day without thinking about Skylar and their kid. Of course, he left before they could find out what she was carrying. He wasn't very proud of his decision, but he was more focused on what his mother and stepfather thought of him, rather than what his own heart said. The doctor had been a med student on break when he and Skylar first met. He was a tourist, visiting on a holiday with his uncle not too far from where the quantitative Alpha grew up at. Simon laughed to himself as he passed the receptionist desk with a steaming cup of coffee in hand; that was the best vacation ever, in his opinion. Not only did he get to spend more time with Uncle Donnie, but he also met the love of his life.

Too bad he blew it all away with one bad decision…

Brenner made a face as the nurses started giggling in that annoying way that they always did, shooting glances at them every so often. When he first started working here, that very thing would have been something that he was attracted to. (But since anyone with feminine assets somehow ended up in his bed, that really wasn't saying much.) It had been a few years since he and Skylar had split up, and this was his way of dealing. He had tried calling from the moment that he came back to America. He realized how much of a prick he had truly been and wanted to make it up to her. Of course, her Uncle Wesley made it pretty clear that she never wanted to talk to him again, so he just had to deal in some other way. His way, which just happened to turn himself into a womanizing man-whore.

Skylar had never told her uncle that she never wanted to speak to Simon again. In fact, she never knew that he called. So, in reality, all of the girls that he had slept with was for nothing.

Simon stopped at the nurse's station with a perplexed expression in place. "Do I even want to know what has you two so giggly today?" the Aussie asked, his accent growing rather thick.

They just stared back at Brenner, before looking back at each other like two teenage girls with a secret.

"Your girlfriend's on the phone with Banfield," the first one teased.

"Something about dropping your kid off, but needing to get in contact with you," the other, Sam Taggart, added, shrugging nonchalantly.

Simon clenched his cup as his blue eyes grew the size of saucers. Either someone was playing a really nasty prank on him, or Skylar really _was_ on the phone. He scurried past the two nurses, who were blinking rapidly in his wake.

Banfield was still on the phone at that point. When she saw him, the doctor perked up, "well speak of the devil himself. Would you like to talk with him now?"

Brenner's heart began to beat at a rapid speed as she stared at him in an accusatory manner. When he took the phone, he was starting to feel a little faint.

"…H—hello?" Simon answered thickly.

Skylar started at the tone of his voice, almost too nervous to speak herself. She was _never_ like this. _"Simon? Is it really you?"_

The Aussie swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah, Sky, it's me." He didn't need any other proof to know who he was talking to. "H—how've you been? Do you still hate me?"

There was a long pause on her end, which worried Brenner to no end. _"Listen, something's come up. I can't talk long. I need you to take Zoe—our daughter—in for a little while. I'll explain everything when I can come down to see you two again."_

Simon blinked repeatedly, words failing him again. "What? But Skylar… how is she getting here? And… why _now_?"

"_Please, Simon. You're the only person I can trust with her," _Skylar practically pleaded, looking down at her daughter, who was packing her things. The blonde doctor could hear a faint childlike hum in the distance. If that wasn't enough to bring a smile to his face…

"When will I get to see _you_, though?" Simon asked with all sincerity.

"_When the world doesn't end," _she replied quietly, _"I've gotta go, but you'll be seeing Z soon_._"_

Brenner panicked as he could tell that his ex-fiancé was pulling away from the phone to end their call. "Sky, wait," he smiled as he heard her steady breathing get closer to the phone again, "it's really good to hear your voice."

"_Ditto, babe," _Skylar told him with a tiny grin. She had to force herself to hang up after that. If she had stayed on for much longer, she probably would have started bawling her eyes out. After all this time…

The dark-haired mother threw her bag over her shoulder and scooped Zoe up, who had her own bag and her favorite stuffed animal pressed to her chest. As they headed out of the apartment with Bill and Gary, things didn't seem real.

_Not like anything ever had_, Skylar mused to herself, _not since Simon left._

**And there we go. Reviews are welcome! This idea came from the fact that Zoe just disappeared at the end of last night's ep. She could have been with someone else, but this is far too much fun to ignore. **


End file.
